Rotary cutter



Oct. 29, 1935. E. A. BESSOM ROTARY CUTTER Filed July 28, 1931 2Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 29, 1935. E. A. BESSOM I 2,018,774

ROTARY CUTTER Filed July 28, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 VEN TUE- PatentedOct. 29, 1935 UNITED STATES ROTARY CUTTER Earl A. Bessom, Marblchead,Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterson, N. J.,a, corporation of New Jersey Application July 28, 1931, Serial No.553,597

25 Claims. (01. 12-315) This invention relates to cutters and isexemplified herein with reference to rotary cutters designed to trimmaterial from the soles of shoes.

In order to prepare'shoes for the reception of heels such, for example,as the wood heels commonly attached to womens shoes, it is customary toreduce the rear marginal portion of each of the soles by a beveling cutin order to provide a reduced heel-seat portion of the sole or tongue,which will fit within the concave attaching face of the heel to beattached to the shoe, and then to form upon the sole at the breast linethereof shoulders extending transversely of the sole and against whichthe top lateral portions of the breast of the heel engage.

In fitting the heel seat of a shoe by a machine of the type disclosed inUnited States Letters Patent No. 1,837,399, granted December 22, 1931 onan application, filed in my name, the heel-seat portion of a soleattached to a shoe is reduced in size by a rotary cutter which iscommonly referred to as a back cutter and which rotates about an axisdisposed at right angles to the plane of the sole as it is moved in ahorseshoe-shaped path around the rear part of the sole from one edge ofthe sole to the other, thereby to form a horseshoe-shaped tongue whichis beveled around its marginal portion and serves as a seat for theheel. The above-mentioned machine is also provided with a cutter which,after the heel seat is reduced in size by the back cutter, is movedtransversely across the sole from one edge of the sole to the other,successively to form at the opposite lateral portions of the soleheel-breast receiving shoulders, and at the same time to trim or to wingout sole material immediately rearward of the shoulders in order toextend the beveled marginal portion of the heel seat up to theshoulders, thereby forming well-defined dihedral angles between theshoulders and the beveled portion of the reduced heel seat or tongue.The shoulder-forming cutter above mentioned may also be used to fitheel-seat portions of short soles such, for example, as those fitted ina machine of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No.1,645,566, filed in the name of E. E. Winkley, without requiring the useof a back cutter.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved rotary cutterby the use of which heelbreast receiving shoulders may be quickly andWith the above objects in view, and in accordance with a feature of thisinvention, each of the two cutters illustrated herein is provided withan advancing spiral cutting edge formed by a pair of faces defining anacute angle, said edge facing substantially in the direction of the axisof rotation of the cutter and said spiral tapering in oppositedirections from an intermediate portion located at a maximum distancefrom the. axis of rotation of the cutter. One of the illustrated cuttersis provided with a single spiral cutting edge lying in the conicalsurfaces of two cones having a common base, the point of intersection ofthe cutting edge and the periphery of the common base being relativelynear the 15 leading end of the cutter and the portion of the edgelocated between the point of intersection and the leading end being veryacute and arranged to penetrate the sole with a downward out against thesole supported by crease plates to form heel breast receiving shouldersupon the sole. The portion of the cutting edge extending from the pointof intersection to the trailing end of the cutter is less acute and isconstructed less rapidly to remove parts of the heel seat portion of thesole adjacent to the shoulders by a series of cuts progressing away fromthe shoulders. The spiral cutting edge faces in the general direction ofthe axis of rotation of the cutter and has a small axial lead whichproduces a draw out having little tendency to pick up the sole duringthe shoulder forming and the sole trimming operation.

Another illustrated cutter, which in some of its aspects is similar tothe cutter above described, instead of having a singleconical spiralcutting edge, is provided with a plurality of conical spiral cuttingedges and is made up of two separate cutters .havingthe same number ofequally spaced circumferentially arranged spiral cutting edges lying inconical surfaces of their respective cutters. The separate cutters maybe placed base to base and then circumferentially located relatively toeach other so that the cutting edges of one cutter formsubstantialcontinuations of the cutting edges of the other cutter, thecutters then being locked together for rotation as a unit. The shoulderforming edges of the two-part cutter face substantially laterally of thecutter and the cutting edges of the portion of the cutter which removessole material adjacent to the shoulder face in the general direction ofthe axis of rotation of the cutter but have a greater lead than thecorresponding cutting edge of the single-piececutter.

By providing two-part cutters the operator may interchange the cutterparts and obtain a great number of combinations of various sizes andshapes.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood from aconsideration of the following claims and the specification taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the illustrated one-piece cutter whichis used for forming heelbreast-receiving shoulders upon soles of shoesand for trimming or winging-out portions of the sole adjacent to theshoulders;

Fig. 2 shows a longitudinal sectional View of the cutter illustrated inFig. 1, taken along line IIII of Fig. 1; 7

Figs. 3 and 4 are side and perspective views, respectively, of atwo-part cutter which may be used in place of the cutter illustrated inFig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an exploded view of the cutter illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4showing registering portions of the parts of the two-piece cutter;

Fig. 6 shows a longitudinal sectional view of portion of the solehas'been reduced by a back cutter as the first step or" the heel seatfitting operation; and

Figs. 9 and 10 are perspective views illustrating the relative positionsof the: cutters illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, respectively, and a shoeduring the "process of forming heel-breast-receiving shoulders on thesole and removing from the sole material adjacent to the shoulders.

It is customary to fit the heel-seat portion of a sole 18 of a shoe forthe reception of a wood heel after the sole has been attached to theshoe, the sole being in the condition illustrated in Fig. '7. Prior totrimming the sole in the machine disclosed in the above-mentionedapplication for United States Letters Patent Serial No. 287,429, theshoe is positioned in the machine and crease plates 20 are inserted inthe rand crease of the shoe in order to protect the shoe upper and tosupport the sole against displacement as the cutters operate upon thesole.

As above stated, in the above-mentioned ma chine a cutter (notillustrated) commonly referred to as a back cutter, is mounted formovement around the peripheral portion of the shoe in a horseshoe-shapedpath to reduce by a beveling cut the rear portion of the sole 18,thereby reducing the heel-seat portion of the sole and forming a tongue22 as illustrated in Fig. 8, the cut starting at one end of theheel-breast line 2 3 of the sole and terminating at the other end. Theouter surface of the tongue 22 is complemental to the attaching face ofthe heel which is to be applied to the shoe, and is of the proper sizeto permit the rim of the attaching face of the heel to engage thecounter portion of the shoe upper when the attaching face of the heel isseated upon the tongue.

In order to complete the heel-seat fitting operation (Figs. 7 and 8), itis customary to form heel-breast-receiving shoulders 26 against whichthe upper lateral portions of the heel abut and to trim away. orwing-out the fillets 28 (Fig. 8)

located at the forward lateral portions of the tongue, thereby leaving aclean-cut dihedral angle 30 where each of the forward lateral parts ofthe completed tongue 22 joins its shoulder 26.

The machine disclosed in the above-mentioned United States LettersPatent No. 1,837,399, is provided with a rotary cutter for performingthe last described operation. That rotary cutter may be replaced by arotary cutter 32, which, during the above-described trimming operation(Figs. 9 and 10), has its axis of rotation inclined to the plane of thesole and extending lengthwise of the sole as the cutter moves from oneedge of the sole to the other successively to form the shoulders 26. Theillustrated cutter 32, (Figs. 1, 2, and 9) may be moved heightwise andlengthwise of the sole as it moves transversely across the same to formcurved heel-breast-receiving shoulders shaped to receive Cuban heels ormay be mounted for movement only heightwise of the sole as it is movedtransversely across the sole to form heelbreast-receiving shoulderslying in a single plane and shaped to receive the breasts of Louisheels.

The cutter 32 is provided with a cutting blade 36 which advancessubstantially in the direction trated as having a plurality ofconvolutions, faces in the general direction of the axis of rotation ofthe cutter. The cutting edge 38 of the blade 36 may also be described ashaving a conical spiral cutting edge since it lies in the conicalsurfaces of two cones that are disposed base to base. The portion 40 ofthe cutting edge 38 lying in one of the conical surfaces is shaped toform the heelbreast-receiving shoulders 26, and the portion 42 of thecutting edge 38 lying in the other conical surface is shaped to trimaway or to wing-out the fillets 23 from the sole.

The cutting blade 36 has a small axial load or pitch and as it movesacross the sole as above described it trims by a draw cut and has littletendency to pick up the sole.

Since the cutting edge 38 of the cutter lies 'in the conical surfaces oftwo cones disposed base to base, it will be clear that the portions 40and 42 of the cutting edge extend at opposite sides of a point on thecutting edge located at a maximum distance from the axis of rotation andit will also be noted that the cutting edge 38 comprises a plurality ofocnvolutions which diminish in radius from an intermediate point in thecutting edge. Although the cutter 32 has been illustrated as comprisinga plurality of convolutions,

it will be understood that the cutter may have one or more convolutionsaccording to the length of the cut desired. Where one continuous cuttingedge is used, it is preferable to have at least one convolution in orderthat the cutter will trim conequally spaced from each other and each ofwhich has the form of an advancing spiral of only part of a convolution.The cutting edges 52 (Fig. 6) of the blades t8 also face in the generaldirection of the axis of rotation and may be described as facing the endof smaller radius of the blade. Each of the illustrated cutting blades48 has a greater axial lead than that of the cutting blade 36 of thecutter 32. The cutter part s5 is, also provided with blades 50 equal innumber to the blades .8 of the cutter part 44 and equally spacedcircumferentially of the part it and extending substantially radially orlaterally of that part as well as having a small axial lead. The cuttingedges 52, 5d of the blades 48 and 59, respectively, lie in the conicalsurfaces of two cones having different vertex angles and having bases ofthe same size, and are of conical spiral form.

The part 44 is provided with a cylindrical projection 56 (Fig. 5) shapedto be received within a cylindrical portion 58 of the part 46 and has aboss portion 60 shaped to register with a recess 62 in the part 46, thearrangement being such that when the parts 4 46 are in registeredposition as shown in Figs. 3 and i, the spiral cutting edges of one ofthe parts form with corresponding cutting edges of the other partsubstantially continuous spiral cutting edges. In order to hold theparts of the cutter in registered position, the part 48 extends beyondthe cylindrical projection 56 and may be clamped against the part 18 by.a flange 54 (Fig. 3) of the shaft 66 upon which the cutter is mounted.

It will be noted that since the portion id of the cutting edge 38 andthe cutting edge 54 of the blade 5!? lie in conical surfaces havinglarge vertex angles, the taper of the cutting edge from its leadingcorner to its point of maximum distance from the axis of rotation issteep or abrupt and penetrates the sole of the shoe rapidly and with adownward out against the surface to form the shoulders 26. The portionof the cutting edge extending from the point of maximum distance fromthe axis of rotation to the trailing end of the cutter is less acutethan the portions just mentioned and is therefore arranged to cutmaterial less rapidly away from the portion of original penetration.

Since the blade 48 has a fairly steep lead, the cutter 43 does not haveso much axial thrust as the cutter 32 and may be advantageously usedwhere axial thrust would be objectionable. By making the cutter 43 oftwo parts, the operator may use one part 44 with one of several parts 46having cutting edges 54 adapted to form heelbreast-receiving shoulders26 inclined at different angles to the sole of the shoe.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A rotary cutter for operating upon shoe parts having a cutting bladeprovided with an undercut spiral cutting edge which faces substantiallyin the direction of the axis of rotation of the cutter and opposite endportions of which approach said axis as they extend from an intermediateportion located at a maximum distance from said axis.

2. A rotary cutter for operating upon shoe parts having a substantiallycontinuous advancing spiral cutting edge formed by a pair of facesdefining an acute angle, said edge facing substantially in the directionof the axis of rotation of the cutter, and said spiral tapering inopposite directions from an intermediate portion located at a maximumdistance from the axis of rotation of the cutter.

3. A rotary cutter for operating upon shoe 5 parts having a continuousconical spiral cutting edge formed by a pair of faces defining an acuteangle, said cutting edge facing substantially in the direction of theaxis of rotation of the cutter and comprising a plurality ofconvoiutions which 10 diminish in radius in opposite directions from anintermediate point in the cutting edge.

4. A rotary cutter for shaping soles of shoes to receive heels having acontinuous conical spiral cutting edge which is formed by-a pair 15 offaces defining an acute angle, said cutting edge facing substantially inthe direction of the axis of rotation of the cutter and lying in thesurfaces of two cones disposed base to base.

5. A rotary cutter for operating upon shoe 20 parts having a continuouscutting blade provided with a cutting edge facing in the direction ofthe axis of rotation of the cutter and lying in the surfaces of twocones disposed base to base. 25

6. A rotary cutter for operating upon shoe parts comprising a pluralityof continuous advancing spiral cutting edges each of which is defined bytwo faces including an acute angle, said cutting edges being arranged inthe conical 30 surfaces of two cones which have different vertex anglesand a common base.

7. A rotary cutter provided with a substantially continuous advancingspiral cutting edge which is undercut and comprises a plurality ofconvolutions the radius of curvature of which diminishes toward one end,said cutting edge being arranged to face toward said end and operatingupon rotation of the cutter to make incisions in a sole and to cut chipsprogressively 40 away from the incisions and toward said end.

8. A rotary cutter comprising a continuous conical spiral cutting edgehaving a plurality of convolutions which diminish in radius in oppositedirections from an intermediate point in the i5 cutting edge, saidcutting edge being constructed and arranged to form heel-breastreceiving shoulders upon the sole of a shoe and to trim portions of thesole adjacent to said shoulders.

9. A rotary cutter having a substantially con- 50 tinuous spiral cuttingedge one portion of which lies in the conical surface of one of twocones disposed base to base and is constructed and arranged to formheel-breast-receiving shoulders upon the sole of a shoe upon relativemovement 55 of the cutter and the sole widthwise of the sole and theother portion of which lies in the conical surface of the other cone andis constructed and arranged to trim material from the sole adjacent tosaid shoulders to fit the forward part 60 of the heel-seat portion ofthe sole for receiving a heel.

10. A rotary cutter having a substantially continuous spiral cuttingblade provided with a cutting edge facing in the general direction ofthe 65 axis of rotation of the cutter, one portion of which cutting edgelies in the conical surface of one of two cones disposed base to baseand is constructed and arranged to form heel-breastreceiving shouldersupon the sole of a shoe upon 70 relative movement of the cutter and thesole widthwise of the sole, and the other portion of which cutter liesin the conical surface of the other cone and is constructed and arrangedto trim material from the sole adjacent to said 75 shoulders to fit theforward part of the heel-seat portion of the sole.

11. A rotary cutter having a plurality of substantially continuousconical spiral cutting edges each of which is defined by a pair ofcutting faces defining an acute angle and lies substantially in theconical surfaces of two cones disposed base to base, said cutting edgesbeing constructed and arranged to form heel-breast receiving shoulderson the sole of a shoe and to trim portions of the sole adjacent to saidshoulders.

12. A rotary cutter comprising an advancing spiral cutting edge portionhaving a small lead and constructed and arranged to form aheelbreast-receiving shoulder upon the sole of a shoe, and anotheradvancing spiral cutting edge portion having a large lead andconstructed and arranged to sever sole material adjacent to the shouldercut by the first-named edge, said firstnamed and said second-named edgeportions being arranged to form a substantially continuous advancingspiral cutting edge.

13. A two-piece rotary cutter for operating upon shoe parts having ablade provided with an advancing spiral cutting edge facing in thegeneral direction of the axis of rotation of the cutter, another bladeprovided with an advancing spiral cutting edge facing generallylaterally of said axis, and means for circumferentially positioning theblades in order that the blades will present a substantially continuousspiral cutting edge and for locking the blades for rotation as a unit.

14. A rotary cutter having a series of circumferentially-arranged teethhaving cutting edges lying substantially in the conical surface of oneof two cones disposed base to base and con structed and arranged to formheel-breast-receiving shoulders upon the sole of a shoe, 2 second seriesof circumferentially-arranged teeth the cutting edges of which liesubstantially in the conical surface of the other of said cones andconstructed and arranged towing out portions of the sole adjacent tosaid shoulders, and means for correlating the teeth of one series withthe teeth of the other series in order that corresponding teeth of thetwo series will form substantially continuous cutting edges which extendalong the surfaces of said cones.

15. A rotary cutter having a series of circumferentially-arranged teethhaving spiral cutting edges lying substantially in the conical surfaceof one of two separable cones disposed base to base and constructed andarranged to form heelbreast-receiving shoulders upon the sole of a shoe,a second series of circumferentially-disposed teeth having spiralcutting edges which lie substantially in the conical surface of theother of said cones and constructed and arranged to wing out portions ofthe sole adjacent to said shoulders, and means for positioning thecutting edges of the teeth of one series concentrically andcircumferentially with respect to the cutting edge of the teeth of theother series and for locking the teeth together for rotation as a unit.

18. A rotary cutter having a continuous tapered spiral cutting bladeprovided with a cutting edge facing the end of smaller radius of theblade and constructed upon movement relative to a shoe part to cut intothe same to form a shoulder and to out progressively toward said end totrim sole material away from the shoulder.

17. A rotary cutter having a conical spiral cutting blade provided witha substantially continuous cutting edge facing generally toward the apexof the cone in which the cutting edge lies and constructed upon movementrelative to a shoe part to cut into the same to form a shoulder and 5facing generally toward the vertex of one of the cones in which thecutting edge lies, a portion of the cutting edge lying in one cone beingconstructed upon movement relative to a shoe part to cut shoulderstherein and another portion of the cutting edge lying in the other conebeing constructed progressively to out material away from the shoulderand toward said vertex thereby to form a clean cut dihedral angle in theshoe part.

19. A rotary cutter for operating upon a shoe part provided with acutting edge one end portion of which is shaped and arranged to make anincision in the shoe part, said edge having an advancing spiral taperingextension arranged to cut progressively toward the other end portion ofthe cutter from the incision, the edge of said extension facingubstantially in the direction of the axis of rotati .1 of the cutter.

2-3. A combined rotary cutter comprising a cutter having a plurality ofconical spiral cuttingconstructed to form heel breast receivingshoulders on the sole of a shoe, another cutter provided with aplurality of spiral cutting edges for removing material from the soleadjacent to the shoulder and comprising a stud for receiving saidshoulder-forming cutter, and means to position the cutterscircumferentially to insure that the cutting edges of one cutter willform continuto ations of the cutting edges of the other cutter and tolock the cutters together for rotation as a unit.

21. A rotary cutter comprising a plurality of advancing spiral cuttingblades each having a cutting edge facing laterally of the axis ofrotation of the cutter and constructed and arranged to form heel breastreceiving shoulders on the sole of a shoe and a plurality of advancingspiral blades each provided with a cutting edge facing in the generaldirection of the axis of rotation of the cutter and constructed andarranged progressively to trim sole material adjacent to the shoulderthereby reducing the heel seat portion of the sole.

22. A rotary cutter for operating upon shoe parts provided with anadvancing spiral cutting edge which is formed by a pair of facesdefining an acute angle, said spiral tapering toward both ends from anintermediate point located at a maximum distance from the axis ofrotation of the cutter, the taper from the leading end of the cuttingedge to said point being steep and the taper from said point to thetrailing end being relatively gradual.

23. A rotary cutter for operating upon shoe parts provided with a spiralcutting edge which is formed by a pair of faces defining an acute angle,said spiral tapering toward both ends from an intermediate point locatedat a maximum dis tance from the axis of rotation of the cutter, saidpoint being relatively near the leading end of the cutting edge and theportion of said edge included between said point and the leading endbeing very acute and arranged to penetrate rapidly into the externalsurface of a shoe part and the portion that extends from said point tothe trailing end being less acute and arranged to out less rapidly awayfrom the point of initial penetration.

24. A rotary cutter comprising a substantially continuous advancingspiral cutting edge which is formed by a pair of faces including anacute angle and comprises a plurality of convolutions, said cutting edgebeing arranged in the surfaces of two cones placed base to base, theportion of the edge which is arranged in one of the cones beingconstructed to make a plurality of incisions in a sole thereby to form aheel-breast receiving shoulder in the same and the portion of thecutting edge which is arranged in the surface of the other of said conesbeing constructed to trim sole material progressively away from saidshoulder thereby to reduce the sole adjacent to said shoulder.

25. A rotary cutter provided with a cutting edge which is defined byfaces forming an acute 5 angle, said cutting edge being arranged in theconical surface of one of two cones having a common base and beingconstructed to out incisions in a shoe part thereby to form a shoulderin the same, said cutter also being provided with 10 a cutting edgewhich is arranged in the surface of the other cone and is constructed tocut progressively toward the apex of said other cone from said shoulderthereby to remove shoe part material positioned adjacent to saidshoulder. 15

EARL A. BESSOM.

